The Achilles tendon – the strongest tendon in the human body – is responsible for the movement of the ankle joint but also for filtering the voluntary or involuntary excessive muscle contraction, very common in athletes.

Achilles tendon rupture (damage) is one of the rare sports injuries and occurs mainly in amateur athletes over 35 years of age.

The causes that may cause Achilles tendon rupture are varied and are due to:

• injury e.g. athletes, poor warm-up
• patient medical history e.g. diabetes mellitus, arthritis, thyroid diseases, autoimmune diseases
• drug treatment e.g. cortisone.

The patient feels acute and sudden pain and in case of palpation, the specialized orthopedic surgeon can feel the break in the continuity along the course of the Achilles tendon. Within a short time after the trauma, moderate local swelling occurs in the tendon area.

The proposed treatment, always based on the clinical diagnosis, includes surgery.

The individual surgical technique is completely individualized to the needs of each patient, the degree of damage (partial or total), the age and the general state of health of the patient.

Watch the following video to see the restoration of mobility after surgery, in a real case that underwent surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon:

Achilles tendon rupture